Turning Point

On our way away from Denali, we passed the Stampede Trail – this is where Chris McCandless from “In to the Wild” died. We even hiked upstream of the same river that prevented his exit, though the water was low at the time.

We entered Fairbanks with caution (to avoid the big-city overload we experienced in Anchorage). We didn't spend much time there, but the downtown area wasn't bad. This was the decision point about the Dalton Highway – 450 miles of gravel road north across the tundra to the Arctic Ocean. It would be quite an experience, but we are probably too late in the season – stops along the way are rare, and most are closed for the season already.

A little more than an hour outside of Fairbanks is Chena Hot Springs, so we decide to spend the night there. They have an endless supply of 165 degree water, and they fill a natural looking outdoor pool at hot tub temperatures. It was great – we miss our backyard jacuzzi. The other attraction of the area is the Ice Museum. The world champion ice sculptors are preserving many of their creations inside an insulated building at 20 degrees. We put on our warmest clothes and headed inside. The sculptures were amazing. The scale is huge (forklifts required), but they all have incredibly fine details like abdominal muscles visible on the life size figures. We even had a drink at the bar in a martini glass made from ice.

That night we watched for the Aurora Borealis – predicted to be active. After an hour or so sitting outside (freezing even in all our clothes), they appeared as a giant arc across the sky. While they were very large and distinct against the black sky this time, they lacked the colors we had seen back at Haines Junction. We watched for as long as we could bear it, hoping for color change but it never came.

That morning, 60 miles outside Fairbanks, marked our farthest point from home. It was kind of odd to think about heading for home after all this time. Even though our return trip will involve many great stops over the next three or four weeks, it feels kind of sad to turn around. We will miss Alaska and all the amazing things we have been able to see and do.

We have about 4,000 miles of driving ahead of us. At an average speed of 50mph, that would be 80 hours of driving. So imagine your next two full weeks of work are spent driving – that's how far away we are. Of course, we'll be driving less intensely than that – we still have lots to enjoy along the way: Dawson City and Whitehorse in the Yukon, Jasper, Banf, and Yoho in British Columbia, and probably Glacier and Yellowstone once back in the states.

Sorry, not a very photogenic segment - more photos next time hopefully.